Thankfully this value is still alive in our culture. Africans are generally very kind. Long ago it was very easy for a stranger to knock on the door at night and be given a place to sleep. These days however, due to safety issues many are careful not to get into traps in the name of 'kindness'. This does not mean we have stopped being kind, we are just kind in a very wise way.
Africans have different symbolic ways of expressing hospitality. In a certain part of Tanzania, a guest is served with roasted grass hopper. This is a sign of high respect and an expression of warmth. The Igbo in Nigeria present guests with kola nuts and Kenyans prepare githeri (a mixture of beans and maize). Each nation, each tribe has a way to show love, kindness and warmth. A way to say you are safe and welcomed.
A certain incident shocked me some years ago. My neighbor, a young wife and a mother of three got some visitors (who are actually her friends). They happened to stay until late in the evening. At around 8.30pm her youngest came over at my house and said he was hungry and his mother hadn't cooked. After an hour or so, his mother came to pick him up after seeing off her visitors, so i asked her if she was so broke that she didn't have food in the house. This is what she told me," Oh no my dear, i have food but i didn't want to cook when the visitors were around. The three of them would have finished my food!".....now do you get why i was shocked???!!!
''In traditional African culture, whenever there is food to be taken,everyone present is invited to participate even if the food was prepared for far less number of people without anticipating the arrival of visitors. It would be a height of incredible bad manners for one to eat anything however small, without sharing it with anyone else present, or at least expressing the intention to do so” Dr. Festus Okafor. This pretty much summarizes the attitude of Africans toward visitors.
It is very important that you relate well with people......
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